Georgia's Batumi International Arthouse Film Festival (BIAFF) is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a strong programme that will kick off with Levan Koguashvili's Guria. The Venice title is part of the ten-strong International Competition, which includes another Georgian master, Giorgi Ovashvili, with The Moon Is a Father of Mine, which world-premiered at Tallinn Black Nights, as did Lluís Miñarro's Emergency Exit. The most-awarded film in the competition is Rafael Manuel's Filipiñana, which comes from Sundance, where it won the Special Jury Award for Creative Vision, followed by a series of prizes at other festivals.

Two Karlovy Vary prizewinners, Mads Mengel's The Guest (Special Jury Prize and Best Director) and Jan-Eric Mack's A Happy Family (Best Actress for Anna Schinz), are joined by Lance Hammer's Queen at Sea, the winner of the Silver Bear Jury Prize and Best Supporting Performance for Tom Courtenay and Anna Calder-Marshall. György Pálfi's Toronto prizewinner Hen later won a Special Mention at Istanbul, where Pınar Yorgancıoğlu's Those Who Whistle After Dark garnered Best Actress for İnci Sefa Cingöz. David Verbeek's Tribeca entry The Wolf, the Fox and the Leopard rounds off the competition.

The International Competition jury will be presided over by producer Christian Baute, and will include producer Miroslav Mogorović, cinematographer Krum Rrodriguez, filmmaker Rafael Kapelinski and actress Ia Sukhitashvili.

The Short Film Competition boasts 20 entries, while the Masters Collection features eight of the past year's biggest titles, including Cannes prizewinners such as Pawel Pawlikowski's Fatherland, Cristian Mungiu's Fjord and Ryusuke Hamaguchi's All of a Sudden.

Meanwhile, the Special Screenings include four Georgian films: Sopho Babluani's Children of Phophodia, Giorgi Khurtsilava's Chain, Mamuka Tkeshelashvili's Sokhumi and Diana Chakhunashvili's Father Finale, plus Hugo Jeijzer's The Occupant and Tamara Stepanyan's In the Land of Arto. In addition, the strand will have screenings of shorts by filmmakers from Batumi.

Two sprawling historical programmes, Georgian Film Heritage and Georgian Animation Classics, will showcase 27 films spanning the period from 1927-1996.

BIAFF's "Alternative Wave" industry section will present eight new Georgian feature-length projects, including Ovashvili's Lamb of God and Koguashvili's Georgian Knights, along with The Poet, Wife and Dog by Mila Kurashvili, In the Middle by Aleksander “Sandro” Wysocki, Inheritance by Edmond Minashvili, Dagger by Akaki Popkhadze, Amiko by Irakli Bagaturia and Be Quiet by Khatuna Khundadze. The filmmakers will work on their screenplays, defining the themes, and developing the characters, marketing strategy and casting, with script doctor Nicos Panayotopoulos, creative consultant Paul Tyler and John Durie, of Strategic Film Marketing, on hand to offer guidance.

The industry section will also focus on the challenges and opportunities presented by AI, and will bring together representatives of the local film industry, the Georgian National Film Center, the regional Ministry of Culture, the public broadcaster and local distributors.